On the anniversary of D-Day we remember when America was truly great
It is usual for me after I have written a piece in this paper supporting Ukraine to get large numbers of social media trolls – some of them clearly Russians pretending to be American – telling me I am a warmonger. Many of these attacks emanate from the Maga true believers who believe every conspiracy theory going. They buy the Trump lines about Ukraine. They embrace the isolationism that has become such a feature of this US administration.
But as June the 6th is the anniversary of D-Day, the day that the liberation of Europe began in 1944, I like to remember a different era of US politics. June 6th 1944 showed America at its best and greatest. It was a day that saw all freedom-loving nations standing together, fighting against tyranny to bring liberty to Europe.
I had the privilege of spending the day with President Macron on the 6th of June 2023. I was invited to present the Commandos Marine, the French equivalent of our Special Boat Service or the US Navy SEALs, with their hard-earned green berets alongside the President. This elite unit had its birth as part of the Free French forces in Scotland in 1942 alongside our Commandos. To this day they wear their berets pulled to the right, the same way as we do, and their instructors wear British camouflage pattern, not French.
It was truly a special moment for me and President Macron was full of praise for what we had done to support Ukraine. That day served to remind me that more unites us than divides us and that Britain and France share so much experience. On this day 81 years ago we, the Free French and the United States fought side by side.
We have already seen Donald Trump and J D Vance rewrite the history of VE day but I prefer to be inspired by that giant of a US President, Ronald Reagan, who stood on Pointe du Hoc overlooking the Normandy Beaches in 1984 and gave a speech to 60 heroic surviving US Rangers who had scaled the cliffs there on D-day.
The 47th President of the United States would do well to listen to the 40th President.
'The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge – and pray God we have not lost it – that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer'.
Ronald Reagan led through belief and generosity. He was patriotic and knew that America was at her best when she took the lead among allies, but he also knew that allies matter and some principles are worth dying for if it comes to that.
Today's President is the polar opposite. He leads by grievance. He spreads it and harvests it. He treats allies and enemies the same. He even denigrates his own armed forces.
In 1984 the Soviet Union knew that in Reagan they faced a man who believed that democracy and freedom were worth dying for. I believe that single, most important, fact contained and eventually defeated the Soviet Union.
What will today's adversaries make of Maga and Donald Trump? They certainly will not believe that he has the resolve to stand by the international rules-based order and the values that in all truth made America great. They will believe everything can be traded away.
But we who admired the old America should not fear overmuch. Politics is cyclical. We have been here before over the last hundred years.
The strong and brave America that fought side by side with Britain on the beaches of Normandy is still there. It might not currently be in the White House but it hasn't gone away.
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